The main troops of the army were the infantry, artillery and light and heavy cavalry. Even a decade after the disbandment of the Black Army, by the turn of the 16th century, only around 10% of the soldiers of Western European armies used firearms. The high price of medieval gunpowder prevented them from raising it any further. Įvery fourth soldier in the Black Army had an arquebus, which was an unusual ratio at the time. Matthias recognized the importance and key role of early firearms in the infantry, which greatly contributed to his victories. It was a standing mercenary army that conquered large parts of Austria (including the capital Vienna in 1485) and more than half of the Crown of Bohemia ( Moravia, Silesia and both Lusatias), the other important victory of the army was won against the Ottomans at the Battle of Breadfield in 1479.
In contrast, the men of the Black Army fought as well-paid, full-time mercenaries and were purely devoted to the arts of warfare. The mercenary soldiers of other countries in the era were conscripted from the general population at times of crisis, and soldiers worked as bakers, farmers, brick-makers, etc. Hungary's Black Army traditionally encompasses the years from 1458 to 1494. The idea of the professional standing mercenary army came from Matthias' juvenile readings about the life of Julius Caesar. The ancestor and core of this early standing mercenary army appeared in the era of his father John Hunyadi in the early 1440s. The Black Army ( Hungarian: Fekete sereg, pronounced, Latin: Legio Nigra), also called the Black Legion/Regiment – possibly after their black armor panoply – is a common name given to the military forces serving under the reign of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.
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